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Female fans normally know more facts about what’s going on than men do anyway. I’d say they’re a more intelligent fan on top of that. They normally know more about what we’ve done than we know about what we’ve done. --- Tony Stewart

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There are female fans who take apart engines and will take you apart if you have a problem with that; who are drawn to the danger and mystery of the sport; who watch races on TV to witness pure passion and unscripted emotion; who love the camaraderie of these family-friendly festivals; who feel the nervous anxiety of the lip-biting wives atop the pit boxes. --- Andrew Giangola “The Weekend Starts on Wednesday”

In Memory

In memory of our friend and colleague Amy Branch

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Kentucky Speedway, located in Sparta, Kentucky – about
halfway between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio – has been hosting
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races since 2011. Here are some facts of
interest as the Cup stars head to the track for the only time this season.

Construction began on the 1.5-mile track in July 1998, and
Kentucky Speedway opened with an ARCA Racing Series event in June 2000. The
1.5-mile tri-oval has 17-degree banking in Turns 1 and 2 and 14-degree banking
in Turns 3 and 4; it has a seating capacity of 87,000.

Originally owned by Jerry Carroll and four other investors,
the track is currently owned and operated by Carroll and Speedway Motorsports,
Inc., which also owns Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and
Charlotte Motor Speedway among others.

While 2011 marked the first visit of the Sprint Cup (now
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup) Series to Kentucky, the track had already hosted NASCAR’s
Nationwide (now Xfinity) and Camping World Truck Series as well as the Verizon
IndyCar Series and the Indy Lights Series.

Brad Keselowski has the most Cup Series wins at Kentucky
(three), and also holds the NASCAR track qualifying record (188.791 mph in June
2014). In six previous Cup Series races at the track, qualifying has been
rained out three times. The overall track lap record belongs to former IndyCar
driver Sarah Fisher, who ran a lap of 221.390 mph in 2002.